First Committee

In terms of the work of the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security), it is clear that “we should not close up shop and wait for the dawning of world peace as a precondition for disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control to succeed”, High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Sergio Duarte, told Member States, opening the Committee’s general debate for the session.

The First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) approved its agenda and work programme for the sixty-sixth General Assembly session at a brief organizational meeting today.

The First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) met this morning to fill vacant positions on its Bureau for the upcoming sixty-sixth session of the General Assembly.

Noting with satisfaction the establishment of a new strategic relationship between the Russian Federation and the United States and the desire of the two to bring their nuclear postures into alignment with that new relationship, and their endeavour to reduce further the role and importance of nuclear weapons, the First Committee today approved a draft resolution welcoming the signing of the new START Treaty.

Convinced that conventional arms control needed to be pursued primarily in the regional and subregional contexts, since most threats to peace and security in the post-cold-war era arose mainly among States in the same region or subregion, militarily significant States and those with larger military capabilities had a special responsibility in promoting such agreements for regional security, according to one of 16 draft texts approved today in the Disarmament Committee.

A vigorous nuclear disarmament text recognizing that “the time is now opportune for all nuclear-weapon States to take effective disarmament measures to achieve the total elimination of these weapons at the earliest possible time” was forwarded to the General Assembly today, 1 of 12 draft resolutions approved by the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security).

Halting the production of bomb-making material, holding to non-proliferation promises and forging a united effort to eliminate nuclear weapons were among the core challenges put to nuclear-weapon States today in the provisions of 12 draft resolutions and one decision approved by the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security), as it began taking action on the 60 texts before it.

Mounting concerns that advances in ballistic missile defence technology and recognition of the inherent instability — possible arms race in space and cascading proliferation on Earth — that could result from the pursuit of space weapons for security informed the debate in the Disarmament Committee today, which heard the introduction of two draft resolutions on the domain long hoped would be preserved for peaceful purposes to the benefit of all humankind.

Mounting a successful campaign to counter, and finally eradicate, what many perceived to be the greatest contemporary security threat — weapons of mass destruction — depended on concrete enforcement and verification, delegates heard today as the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) addressed some of the obstacles to strengthening the key conventions prohibiting biological and chemical weapons.

Facing new technological challenges, calming regional tensions, destroying arms and building strong common regulatory initiatives were among the themes of a basket of four resolutions and one decision tabled today as the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) continued its thematic debates.